


Take It In (But Don’t Look Down)

by Turquink



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: F/M, Fluff, I’m a slut for soulmates, M/M, Multi, Nobody is Dead, Oneshot, Reader Insert, Soulmate AU, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 06:29:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17116187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turquink/pseuds/Turquink
Summary: It’s common knowledge that the words will be the first ones your soulmate ever says to you.Aka, a sorta cheesy Evan x Reader (gender neutral!) I found buried in my Notes from July 2017 that somehow never made its way into the light and I’m too lazy to make it better.





	Take It In (But Don’t Look Down)

Everyone knows about the words. The ones that show up on your body as a child—inky black and scrawled in unfamiliar handwriting, impossible to scrub off. It’s common knowledge that the words will be the first ones your soulmate ever says to you.

However, not everyone acknowledges them. Some people go their entire lives without being entirely sure whether or not the person they love is their soulmate, with only simple “Hi”s and “Hello”s on their bodies. Some couples tattoo their own words, foregoing the system. Who’s the universe to say who you’re destined to be with? The universe doesn’t give a shit about any other aspect of your everyday life; why should it care about your “soulmate”?

That was a lot of people believed, anyway. Evan was one of the “lucky” ones—one of those people that got phrases so specific, it would be impossible to meet his soulmate and not know it. However, it was kind of inconvenient. He spent years wearing sweaters and long-sleeved shirts to cover up the phrase inked on his right wrist: “Are you fucking kidding me?” People gawking at his soul mark coupled with his crippling social anxiety made for a very uncomfortable cocktail of emotions. 

He had tried scrubbing it off with soap and water as a kid, even considered getting it inked out with a black tattoo. But the soul marks were impossible to scrub off and he was scared of needles, so he stuck with just keeping it covered. Even with the reminder ever-present, Evan didn’t really believe in the whole “soulmates” thing. After all, his parents had been so-called soulmates, and look where that landed them. Plus, a little voice in the back of his head that sounded suspiciously like his own whispered that there was no way anyone in the universe would be meant for someone like him.

Well, that was until a quarter through his senior year. 

The trees in town were turning gorgeous oranges and yellows, painting Evan’s sleepy hometown in a warm glow. He adjusted his bag on his shoulder as he waited for Jared to pick him up. The familiar maroon, junky-looking car pulled into his driveway, and Evan opened the passenger side and half-sat, half-fell into the seat. 

“Evan, bro, did you finish last night’s chem homework?” Jared asked immediately. Evan had half a mind to say an indignant, “*Well good morning to you too,”, but then he started thinking about whether Jared would understand what he was saying and not get the sarcasm, something he didn’t really handle well, oh god what if Jared just thought he was an idiot? He’d stop giving him rides to school and his mom would have to drive him, making her late and then she’d lose her job and he’d have to make ends meet by working at a shady bar and—

“Dude, you okay? You thinking about your weird sex dreams about one of the Murphys again?” Jared cackled. Evan turned bright red.

“OhmygodJaredshut*up*!”

The rest of the ride to school was uneventful, Jared talking more about his weekend (“Yeah, I crashed a college kegger. It wasn’t cool enough for the infamously awesome Jared Kleinman, so I left after an hour. No big deal.”) while Evan just stared out at the world rushing by. He tried not to look at the tops of trees anymore, and not for too long, unless the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach returned, thinking about last summer. 

“Okay, but seriously, I need to borrow your chem homework, or I’m doomed,” Jared said pulling in to his parking spot. Evan nodded—at least he didn’t have to pay gas money—and dug through his backpack.

“Uhhhh….h-here it is,” Evan said, kind of shoving it in Jared’s direction. Jared smiled wide.

“Thanks man! I’ll give it back by lunch.”

“Jared, don’t you get A’s in everything? W-Why can’t you just, I dunno…do the work, yourself, maybe?” Evan suggested, getting out of Jared’s car. He just laughed, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

“Wow, look at Hansen over here, a straight-up genius,” Jared said sarcastically. Evan looked down at the ground, focusing on a pile of leaves near the sidewalk. “Yeah, like I would do that. I’ve got way cooler things to do with my friends. My other friends.” Jared tugged on his shirt collar in something that Evan would recognize as awkwardness if everything Jared did wasn’t awkward on its own account. 

“O-Okay. Um, see you at lunch?” It was more of a question than a statement, and Evan swore at himself in his head as he walked away. God, why did he always let Jared walk all over him? *Because he’s your only friend,” that voice in his head said.

“N-Not true! I have—I have friends,” Evan thought defensively. 

“Yeah, and that’s why you’re standing in the middle of the parking lot talking to yourself.”

Goddammit. He was doing *this* again. 

Evan messed with the hem of his shirt, rolling it up and smoothing it out again, wringing it with his fingers. He tried very hard to just focus on his blue converse: stepping on a square floor tile, flecked with brown and gold spots, the way his shoe crinkled up when he stepped—

CRASH!

Evan yelped as he knocked into you full-force, knocking you over and onto the ground. His hands shot out to catch himself, and he did—with his arms pinned right beside your’s face. Wide eyes stared up at him, and he felt his face and neck flush a bright, embarrassed red from the position he was in, effectively landing *right on top* of you.

Evan opened and closed his mouth, making him look kind of like a fish. “I-I-I’m so sorry, I must have—must have tripped, and um, oh my god this is embarrassing I am so so sorry—“

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Evan’s eyes went wide, and he practically jumped off of you. There was a crowd of people forming around them now, watching the scene in the hallway. Evan felt his cheeks and the tips of his ears burning, felt the sting of tears threatening to spill. His throat felt tight and his hands were starting to shake, fingers fumbling where he was messing with his shirt hem. You shot up, glancing worriedly at the gathering crowd and grabbing your things, cursing under your breath. When you saw Evan, however, your eyes got wide again, and you grabbed Evan’s hand, both gentle and insisting. 

“Come on, let’s go,” you murmured, squeezing his hand encouragingly and pointedly not looking at the other people surrounding you, and Evan nodded, getting to his feet and walking quickly away. He didn’t even notice you were holding his hand, until he thought about how warm your hand was—and oh god, were his warm too? Were they getting sweaty like they did the night he had waited for Zoe, but only got sweaty because he was thinking about them getting sweaty and now they *were* because he was *thinking* so much—

“Okay, I think we’re good,” you said, relieved, effectively stopping Evan’s runaway train of thought. You had a habit of doing that, Evan thought absently. He didn’t stop to ponder if that was a good thing or a bad thing. You had pulled him into a little alcove in a pretty deserted part of the school. Evan’s free fingers still played nervously with his hem.

“Listen, I’m—I’m sorry, about, um, whatever that w-was, and if you took me aside to say you never want to talk to me again I mean I guess that’s fine?” Evan rambled out, not thinking before he spoke. 

You gave him a look of complete confusion. “Why would I not want to talk to you?” you asked. “I mean, I think *this* gives me more than enough reason to want to talk to you.” You made a move to take off your jacket, pulling down your t-shirt sleeve so this boy who had tripped into you could read the black words inked onto your collarbone in his messy handwriting: “I-I-I’m so sorry, I must have—must have tripped, and um, oh my god this is embarrassing I am so so sorry”. 

Evan’s jaw hit the floor. This could *not* be happening. He fumbled with his shirt sleeve, pulling it up to show your vulgar first words to him. “Wow, I-I can’t believe they…they even got my, um my stutter right??” Evan said, gesturing to your soul marks.

You stared at him blankly for second before laughing. Full-on cackling, bent-over-at-the-middle laughing. You even snorted a little bit, slapping a hand over your mouth. Evan suppressed a giggle; that was kind of…cute?

“This is insane,” you said, still kind of laughing. “The first thing I get when I move here is my soulmate just, showing up out of the blue? What the hell?” And then you were laughing, and Evan was smiling shyly, and then laughing along with you. Two laughing weirdos in an alcove in a high school hallway. 

“I’m—I’m (Y/N),” you finally said, holding out your hand.

“E-Evan. Hansen.” He tentatively took it in his own, not objecting a bit when you threaded your fingers through his. 

“Well, hello, Evan,” you said, sweetly looking into his eyes. “I’m just *loving* this incredibly awkward first meeting we’re having, but I don’t want to be late on my first day of classes. Maybe we could meet up later…?” you asked hesitantly. Evan felt his cheeks grow pink again. 

“Oh, um, yeah! Yeah, of course. I mean, what kind of guy would say no, to his soulmate, right? God. Soulmate. Um. Wow.” Evan’s still confused and bewildered rambling made you laugh. 

“Yeah. Wow.” You squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back. “I guess I’ll see you later, Evan Hansen.” You smiled at him one last time and squeezed his hand, letting your hand fall from his grasp. You could barely contain your excitement as you walked down the hallway, shoulders hunched and smile wide. 

Evan watched you go, out of breath suddenly. He couldn’t believe the universe gave him such good luck—you were so pretty, and caring, and funny, and god you were just so cute, this was impossible. There was no way you were real. 

Then, he glanced back down at the words on his wrist, the objectively vulgar words taking on completely new meaning. Instead of feeling like the surrounding chilly fall air, he felt like early spring, in bloom and bursting at the seams.


End file.
